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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26309284">flower crowns</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/wordswithdragons/pseuds/wordswithdragons'>wordswithdragons</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>sometimes a family is [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Established Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince), F/M, Found Family, Gen, POV Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Rayla-centric (The Dragon Prince)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 10:27:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,675</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26309284</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/wordswithdragons/pseuds/wordswithdragons</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Rayla makes flower crowns for her new family.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Ezran &amp; Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Rayla &amp; Soren (The Dragon Prince)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>sometimes a family is [5]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1690177</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>109</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>flower crowns</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>based off the new story posted on dragonprinceofficial called "lunabloom: a story from the silvergrove" in which rayla makes a flower crown. thus this fic was born.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>i.</p><p>The castle gardens quickly become one of her favourite places. The Silvergrove had almost no stone buildings and while she enjoys climbing the towers here in Katolis—and dragging Callum up to appreciate the view on date night—the gardens remind her the most of home. Former home? Rayla isn't sure, anymore. All she knows is she likes going along the rows of hedges, watching the flowers bloom as summer stretches on and she grows more used to everything the castle holds. There are trees too, bearing fruit, and she likes to climb up and sit in the branches and maybe eat an apple or two.</p><p>It's her usual spot when the boys are busy; Soren on shift work as a crownguard, Ezran answering letters as a king, and Callum receiving lessons on history as a prince and now also as a mage.</p><p>But, when he can, Ezran frequents the gardens too. It's good to get fresh air, for starters. A nice reprieve from the stuffiness of the throne room. But it's also the place with the most animals in the palace by far. Mice scurrying along plants, squirrels and birds in the trees. She'll climb up a tree first and then hoist him up so he can talk to the birds better, and Rayla rests her cheek on a drawn up knee, smiling while he inquires after where the swallows are building their new nest and gives recommendations accordingly.</p><p>Summer wanes in its own way, warm and appealing even as the flowers begin to wilt.</p><p>"We'll have to cut them for bouquets soon," says Ezran as he and Rayla walk along a blooming bush on its last legs. "The clerics use them in some ceremonies."</p><p>Rayla reaches over and plucks a few with a mischievous smile. "I'm sure they won't miss these?"</p><p>Ezran grins and helps her gather a few more flowers, cooing over pretty colours. He seems to like blue and red best because they match his eyes and tunic respectively, and Rayla does her best to use what Callum's blabbed at her about in regards to colour theory to make sure the shades they pick don't clash. She tucks the flowers carefully into her vest until she and Ezran find a bench to sit on under the bright sun.</p><p>She folds her legs and sits behind him as she weaves a flower crown for him. Her fingers move on muscle memory, remembering when she'd woven some for herself and Ethari on birthdays past, the handful of times she'd convinced Runaan to wear one too. Her father had taught her how before he'd left for the Dragonguard and Ethari had done braids in her hair, and if this is home, well...</p><p>Then this is her family, too.</p><p>"There." It's a bit of a struggle to fit the crown over Ezran's hair but she manages so it can rest partially above his brow. "What do you think?"</p><p>Ezran pats his hair and then turns around to grin at her. "I love it—I can't wait to <em>see</em> it."</p><p>She laughs and ruffles the top of his hair. "Let's go get a mirror, then."</p><p>Ezran is still wearing it when he goes back to his meetings in the afternoon and Rayla has to keep herself from laughing at the look on Opeli's face. Corvus gives them an approving smile and Ezran hops onto his throne without a care, not bothering to put his real crown on. Rayla is happy to stand next to Soren and hear the crowmaster drone on with letters for once.</p><p>It becomes a sort of tradition after that, for days where things aren't so serious and busy, and she and Ezran try out different patterns. She laughs when he gets a bit frustrated at trying to learn how to weave himself, but she lets him practice making bracelets for her. They're smaller and often fall apart quickly, but she promises him they're pretty and he keeps going.</p><p>In the meantime, Rayla presents him with more flower crowns, and with each one, he declares, "This is my new favourite crown," and beams so widely that it always reminds her that Ezran <em>is</em> still a kid.</p><p>And if Rayla can give him another piece of childhood—of<em> her</em> childhood—then why not?</p><p>He's her little brother, after all.</p><p>ii.</p><p>Callum convinces her to go on a picnic. There's a nice clearing in the woods not far from the castle, he promises (Harrow had once tried to take him hunting and it had been a disaster, but before then, they'd gone on picnics with his mother and Ez and it had been nice). <em>It'll be fun.</em> And he bats those puppy dog eyes at her and Rayla caves, because she's <em>weak</em> and<em> in love</em> and it <em>does</em> sound like a nice sort of simple date idea, anyway.</p><p>They hold hands on the walk over when they bot have a free day, a picnic basket with food and a blanket tucked under one of Callum's arm that he'd <em>chivalrously</em> insisted on carrying, and Rayla just rolls her eyes and kisses his cheek. "My hero," she teases and he grins, blushing a bit.</p><p>The clearing is like a meadow, with tall yellowed grass that's warm in the sun and soft to the touch. It's like a little paradise as they lay the blanket and dishes out over the grass and wildflowers. They cackle and shove each other in between throwing grapes for the other to catch in their mouths, and sip apple cider in between bites of sandwiches (with each passing day in Katolis, Rayla is starting to understand the human obsession with bread more and more).</p><p>Callum half falls over trying to catch a grape in his mouth and Rayla scoots over to lean over him, smiling. She runs a hand through his hair when he shifts and settles with his head in her lap, staring up at her and the clouds. He closes his eyes at her touch, a peaceful smile on her face, and she thinks—not for the first time—that her heart might burst from how much she loves him.</p><p>Her other hand supports her weight and snags onto a stem. Callum cracks a eye open with her hand leaves his hair, whining a little. "That was nice."</p><p>"Shush," she smiles, pausing in selecting flowers to brush his bangs back from his brow. The wildflowers are longer than the ones at the castle and a paler blue. They'll go nicely with his jacket. "Just close your eyes, sleepy prince." She knows he'd stayed up late reading rune scrolls last night. "Or look at the clouds. You can draw them later."</p><p>It's one of the nicest days they've had so far, but with enough clouds it seems like a storm might be coming later. Callum huffs and shifts but closes his eyes, and Rayla plants the flower crown onto his head once it's finished with a giggle. It nearly falls off when Callum sits up, confused at first before she adjusts it to fit over his head properly.</p><p>"My prince," she says with a mock bow and a wrinkle of her nose.</p><p>Callum chuckles but takes the crown off to admire it. "Whoa. It's beautiful." He puts it back on and pulls her close to kiss her cheek and blow a raspberry and Rayla laughs and weakly pushes him away; she doesn't want him to go too far.</p><p>The crown falls over when they run while holding hands after getting caught in the rain, but their smiles stay the same.</p><p>iii.</p><p>Rayla <em>isn't</em> a paranoid person ("Shut up, Callum,") but she still wants to know all the patrol routes. If the captain of the crownguard was anyone else, he might give her a strange or wary look—the rest of the crownguard certainly do even after three months, not that she can blame them—but Soren just gives her a grin and slings an arm around her shoulder. "I'll give you the best tour," he says smugly before Rayla weasels out of his grip with a scowl.</p><p>The tour ends up being consistently mostly of the battlements, and inner and outer walls, and lengthy anecdotes embarrassing things other crownguard members had done and where and how and why. In between, she does get the patrol routes, and switch offs, and basically any other piece of information she could care to know about the castle's security and infrastructure. Soren is (even if she's a little surprised <em>and</em> reluctant to admit it) good at his job.</p><p>"But the heaviest patrol shifts are posted by Callum's and Ezran's rooms," he finished. Which includes her own now that she's sharing one with Callum, but... The Dragon Queen won't send assassins again. Nothing will (or should) threaten the royal family again. What's left of it. They wouldn't.</p><p>(She catches Soren's eye and she thinks he understands.)</p><p>One day, Soren comes to collect Ezran from the gardens while she's weaving him a flower crown with blue flowers that match Runaan's eyes. The sting of uncertainty surrounding his loss permeates through even the happier present she's found herself in. Soren's eyes are blue, too, and she remembers; there was no body for his father, either.</p><p>There was no sign of Claudia.</p><p>Later, Rayla presents a flower crown with blue petals and green-grey vines and leans up to drape it over his head, under the swoopiness of his hair. "Don't read into it," she says, settling down on her heels.</p><p>Soren touches it and then grins at her, touched. Then coughs a bit to cover it up. "Uh, yeah. Don't worry. Not much of a reader." He places a hand on his hip and glances over to where her boyfriend is sitting in the courtyard below with Ezran. "I'm not a <em>nerd</em>." Rayla rolls her eyes; yeah, Soren's fine, even as his face softens and he coughs again. "But seriously, thanks."</p><p>She softens too and socks him on the shoulder. "Don't mention it," she says.</p><p>(She knows he does.)</p>
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